The man of God's creating is eternally and entirely perfect. He is so at one with the source of all good that he is inseparable from it. He is pure and free. His thought is unlimited. His abilities, qualities, faculties, and talents are continually and fully effective. His horizon is wide and beautiful. He is perpetuated in completeness. He is holy; he is satisfied.
As understood in Christian Science, and in accordance with the first chapter of the Bible, this real man, the creation, the image and likeness of the one creator, God, is the inheritor of every blessing, the possessor of an harmonious being and an abundant life. Is it not worth any sacrifice to learn to possess this life, to live it, to become conscious of the true status of being, and to prove an ability to experience progressively in each ascending hour the effect of this knowledge?
The word "sacrifice" usually causes thought to shrink back, to rebel. Pictures of relinquishment, giving up, doing without, flash before human thought. The five physical senses urge attention to their demands and vaunt the rights of mortals to forgo sacrifice. They ask: "Ills are plentiful, should there not be some balance, some material gain to offset the drudgery and disappointments? Should there not be some good?"
The one who is a Christian Scientist is not confused by these arguments. He questions, What is good? He knows that ills, drudgery, and disappointments will not be dispelled by indulging human frailties or seeking to escape human problems through materialism. He knows that difficulties must be displaced by good. And he does not lapse into a bemused supposition that evil can eventuate in good. He sifts out mortal mind innuendoes and discards them, sacrifices them upon the altar of understanding.
Christian Science teaches that we live under the jurisdiction of the divine law, the wise, the mighty, the operative law of progress—God's law. Is that law good? Are its results good? Are the perquisites of spiritual progress practical?
Each time that we use the certain effectiveness of a spiritual thought in the application of divine metaphysics, we deflate in that measure evil's baseless presumption that matter exists and must be taken into account; and we undermine, as well, the spurious argument that mortal mind is actually a mind with a quintet of physical sense assistants.
As we lift thought away from the vagaries of matter and the inconsistencies of material methods, we reach an abiding sense of the tangibilities of Soul, the infinite extensiveness of Spirit's resources, the majesty of Mind's motivation, the holy reality of divine Being.
In contemplation of Soul, we lose the suppositions of material belief. Are Truth's compensations sufficient for the loss of that which is erroneous? Are God's grace and goodness, His wisdom and care, enough to recompense us for the absence of the lies and miseries offered by material superstitions? We should not feel deprived in our daily living when we sacrifice impatience, morbid thinking, caustic viewpoints, displeasing words, edged tones, mental frowns, grudges of various varieties, or lazy indifference to God's service. On the contrary, as we surrender this uncomfortable merchandise, we make room for the angel thoughts that minister to us.
Perhaps somewhere in the course of our education, we have been given an assignment that demanded so much exhaustive research and such analytical reasoning and aptitude for adequate presentation that we felt rebellious and helpless before it. But upon our having a conference with the teacher of the course, if it was made plain that this assignment was a requirement for graduation and that we should be getting ahead with it, we did just that. The size of the assignment did not deter us when we understood that mastering it was an essential for graduation.
The requirements for graduation into right thinking are demanding. In schooling we sacrifice ignorance for human knowledge. In the pursuit of Christianly scientific thought and life, we give up ignorance, fear, sin, and a false sense of self for an increasing understanding of God and His reflection, man. As a result we find safety and peace, for the Father sustains us in our honest efforts to let go of error that we may lay hold on Truth.
It is good to practice loving God. Each time that we feel conscious, deeply, warmly conscious, of our love for God, our thought is open to receive His direction and blessing. Loving God ever more greatly and more gratefully, we gain the attitude necessary for harmonious lives. We are enabled to yield up the thought of how much we can get out of life in the office, the home, the school, the church, and begin to center our interest on what we can give to life.
We thank God that He has sent His Truth, the Christ, to stir us, to compel us to sacrifice the inertia and other false beliefs of self that would hinder our sharing Christian Science. Upon Christian Science, the revelation of the operative power of God's law of Life, Truth, and Love, depends the salvation of all. Upon Christian Scientists devolves the responsibility of carrying the light of Truth: that God's goodness is, here and now, unfailing in power and effect.
On page 11 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy says, "We know that a desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we desire holiness above all else, we shall sacrifice everything for it."
Vanity was one of the arguments used by evil to dissuade Naaman from obeying Elisha's command. Later Naaman listened to the reasoning of those around him and decided to forgo the vanity, arrogance, and anger which were dominating his thought. In humility he yielded to obedience and was cleansed of his sickness.
A Christian Scientist who had been experiencing extreme suffering for many hours began with refreshed earnestness to declare the allness of divine Love and to pray to understand better its deeper meaning. There was nothing contrary to love in thought which needed to be sacrificed, so far as could be discerned. In fact, love for God and man had been deeply felt.
However, when the Scientist listened for God's guidance, a question as to the motive for loving came to attention. The answer seemed natural enough: the desire to be obedient; the desire to do right; really the desire to love; and, admittedly, the desire also for protection. Then it became apparent that the loving was not complete. Protection for others must be included.
The student became conscious of a longing to feel the love that would really bless others, especially any who might be entertaining some sense of unkindness or lack of accord, so that each one might progress in the fulfillment of every right purpose. Gratitude for this more completely loving prayer filled thought entirely for moments. Then further gratitude followed; for all suffering had vanished, and there was normal ability to stand and walk freely.
In Science we learn that an omission of good is error. Sacrifice of any thing or thought that is not of God gives us right of way to an improved sense of values. Rather than a loss of good, sacrifice clears the way for the very good for which we pray.
Christ Jesus sacrificed all things that were humanly false or mistaken. Yet he said (Matt. 11:30), "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." He gained the kingdom. Through precept and proof, he taught us that the kingdom of harmony may be increasingly experienced now through an understanding of God, for this understanding enables us to yield up evil and to establish good in thought.
